[Imports] Importing Arkansas data

[Josh Doe]

I think we need to be careful when we use the word "import", as it has
such a loaded meaning on this list.

Rather than thinking about a "continual import", we need to think
about syncing. I haven't seen much in the way of tools for syncing OSM
with external databases. It's been mentioned quite a bit as something
useful, like for sending feedback to the US GNIS on the thousands
(millions?) of points imported from them, but it doesn't seem to have
been done.

Does anyone currently sync data with OSM, and if so are the tools
available? A quick search reveals one such tool, gtfs-osm-sync, for
syncing General Transit Feed Specification data with OSM, but I don't
even see this listed on the wiki. Perhaps we can create a page with a
list of all such sync tools as well as ideas for sync tools (desktop
and web based). The lowest hanging fruit should be creating a tool to
sync data between nodes in OSM and an external database. In fact this
could be a good GSoC project.

-Josh

On Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 1:56 PM, Ian Dees <ian.dees at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 12:41 PM, Michael Leibowitz
> <michael.leibowitz at intel.com> wrote:
>>
>> If one were to make a one-time import, not only would they probably stomp
>> on a lot of entries already existing, the data would become wrong
>> eventually.  However, a continual import has value.  Although survey is
>> good, the GIS department's opinion of address is the canonical source.
>>  Likewise for other data sources.
>>
>
> Ah, this last sentence here is where our problems come from.
> What is the purpose of a (Street)map that is Open if all we do is import the
> "correct" data? The Europeans (who are oddly silent in this debate *nudge
> Fredrick* :) ) will tell you that they don't want the project to be reduced
> to a bunch of human conflict resolvers. They've generated oodles of data
> that in many cases is *much* better than the "correct" data provided by
> municipalities -- all without major imports.
> Because of this, they will tell you that continual import has no value. In
> fact, they'll say that continual import has *negative* value because it
> actually pushes mappers away. Why would anyone sign up to a project where,
> after they nudge the previously-imported address point for their house over
> a few meters, it is accidentally blasted away by an import?
> Yes, in the US there are *tons* of existing datasets that are maintained by
> municipalities, but we still need to figure out the best way to use that
> data. For now we need to take it on a case by case basis because of imports
> that don't quite get the process right (like the one that started this
> thread) and because of imports that don't add valuable data to the OSM
> dataset.
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